What Is a Hero
by Afskrifkat
Summary: Robin has something on his mind, and a new problem to deal with. How does he go about trying to figure things out?    Sequel of sorts to Domesticated.
1. Revelations

A/N Holy crap I'm actually posting it. This story took hold of me recently and I was not able to stop writing it. This does fall chronologically after Domesticated, although you do not need to read that in order to get this one other than a few parts. Anyway on with the Story

What is a hero? In modern definition a hero is someone who saves others despite the risk to his or her safety or life. So then this brings us to my next question. What is a super-hero? Is it a hero that is better at saving people? Seems possible. But personal experience tells me this is not the case. Is it a hero with super powers as many see to associate with them? I guess I would be a good counterexample to that answer. So what is it that makes someone a super-hero?

This question had been plaguing him for quite some time. He wasn't sure why now this was bothering him so much, he just knew he needed to find an answer. He looked up at the clock and realizing it was already six in the morning he decided to get ready for the day.

While stepping out of the shower he caught his reflection in the mirror and felt something was off. He stepped over to the sink and automatically put his mask in its rightful place. Going through this motion he realized that this was the first time in a long time he had actually seen his own eyes. When he thought back on it he couldn't even remember the last time he had. Dick decided to brush it off seeing as how it was essentially part of who he was anyhow.

Robin entered the common room noting the time at 6:27 as he walked in. Raven was already up and drinking her tea and of course reading some book Robin had never even heard of. This was normal so he went about his daily routine of making his breakfast and sitting down at the computer to check on any possible warning signs for criminal activity or any leads it might have dug up on cases he had taken up. After glancing over the files and seeing nothing that required his immediate attention, Robin's thoughts turned to his teammates. They had all changed over the years, himself included. More recently though he had noticed much more change in Raven and Beastboy. BB had been more obvious with his... incidents, to put them lightly. He had since put more effort into remaining on the team than Robin had ever seen him put into anything. Raven had been helping him through whatever it was that had been bothering him, neither had, or likely would anytime soon, decided to tell him what they discussed. This seemed to have a positive effect on her. Since they had started that, she had started hanging out with and talking with everyone more and even seemed less likely to get irritated with anyone.

Now Cyborg had a theory about what it was that was making those two change so quickly. Many parts of which were definitely not only unsuitable for polite company but also completely outrageous considering who was involved. Not that he thought they weren't heading towards a possible relationship, but he knew neither of them was really ready for it quite yet, and knowing Raven she would not go into anything she wasn't prepared for.

Of course thoughts of relationships brought thoughts of Starfire to him. Cyborg also had a theory on how Robin should deal with that. Needless to to say he wasn't even giving the idea anymore thought than necessary to push it away. The main thing Robin was worried about in his relationship with Star was the fact that she still did not know his name or know what it looked like under his mask, and he could not bring himself to change that still. He trusted the Titans with his life, but he still had reservations about his secret identity. It wasn't even really that simple either, because he wasn't just protecting his identity but also Batman's. He had too many things bothering him and nearly any avenue of thought brought him back to one of those things.

As if on cue the most recent subject of his thoughts burst into the common room and predictably flew towards him and gave him one of her notorious hugs and a kiss that left him near blushing even though only Raven was in the room with them.

"Good morning Robin, good morning friend Raven!" she exclaimed cheerfully. Robin responded by squeezing her a little tighter and Raven gave a wave without looking up from her reading.

Starfire went about making herself some horrifying creation that made Robin's stomach churn just thinking about it. Luckily she had seemed to understand that many items that were tasty to her weren't even safe for humans and had thus stopped trying to get her friends to try most of her food.

"So Robin what do you plan on doing today?" Starfire said casually in a tone that told him she had something in mind as she sat down at the seat closest to him at the table.

Just then, "Mornin' ya'll!" Cyborg said loudly as he and Beastboy stepped through the door.

Robin gave them a little wave then turned back to Star. "Actually I was planning on canceling this morning's team training session." he said in a neutral tone.

"Wait, am I still asleep?" Beastboy queried skeptically.

"I suppose that's always possible, but I figure you guys could just do some light exercise while I'm out for the morning," Rob replied.

"Wait you're going to be out while we workout? I hardly see how that's fair," Beastboy complained.

"If you want you can patrol the rest of the morning with me," Robin stated simply and without a hint of irony.

"I have thoroughly weighed my options and have decided that I will stay here at the tower and do my light exercises," Beastboy responded almost instantly.

"I'll bet," Cyborg said giving a slap on the shoulder and then made way over to the kitchen where he proceeded to cook enough bacon to kill a crocodile.

"So how long do you plan on being out on patrol?" Starfire said sounding innocent enough to let him know he should probably cut it back to a few hours.

Feeling the others' eyes on him he calmly replied, "I should be back before eleven this morning."

"Great then this afternoon we can go to the mall of shopping!" Star exclaimed as Robin heard snickers from the other guys and even saw a tiny smile on Raven's face.

Making a note to violently murder the three of them he cleaned up what was left of his meal and headed for the door just as Beastboy got his turn at the kitchen and did not even comment of Cyborg's choice in foods. This was something that Robin still thought of as strange even though it had been weeks since they stopped their food wars.

Starfire caught up with him just as he entered the garage. "Why are you going out on patrol so much recently?" she asked in a soft voice that pierced at him like a harpoon, "Did I do something wrong?"

Robin nearly choked at these words. "What could possibly make you think that Star?" he said nearly frantic.

"We haven't been talking as much recently and you have been going out so much more than usual recently and I... I..." there was a hitch in her voice towards the end that gave way to tears.

He grabbed her into a tight hug. This startled her enough that the tears stopped. "Listen, there are some things that have been bugging me recently that I haven't felt comfortable sharing, but never think that any of this is you're fault!" Robin said with a vehemence that shocked him a little. He had not really paid attention himself, but he had been spending more time out on patrol and when he wasn't he was likely to be brooding all as a side-effect of the stuff on his mind.

He held her at arms length and said, "I'm sorry if you feel like I have been more distant but I just need some time to think on my own, okay?"

She looked into his eyes and did not reply. "When I get back we can spend the rest of the day together okay?"

She wiped the tears away and then smiled for him. "Okay."

Feeling bad he got on his R-Cycle, put his helmet on, waved goodbye and took off. In less than a minute he was in the city. After a arbitrary amount of time he took a turn into an alley and parked his bike. Storing the helmet in its lock and setting up the bike's security he left it as it was. He took to the roof tops.

Probably the most recent thing that was bugging him and the most reasonable excuse for him to go on patrol was the rash of vigilante justice that had been dished out over the past few weeks. It was a common enough occurrence that the police didn't do much besides a cursory investigation. Robin however had seen a pattern. Most of the new ones had been done by the same people. Also all evidence pointed toward them never using a firearm only fists and bladed weapons. Whoever was doing this was good, they also have taken on some high risk targets. Even some minor meta thugs. Of course the criminals were useless. Either they wouldn't talk or they said they never got a look at who attacked them. This didn't surprise Robin as good as they must be he expected them to attack from the darkness and neutralize the threat quickly. The only thing that did surprise is in all the ones linked to this MO there were only two fatalities and, the only reason he could see was on their rap sheets. One was a serial murderer and the other was a hit-man for the local criminal elements. Frustratingly enough the only thing he had ever found in terms of evidence from the group was that wasn't damage to the thugs was a single shoe print. A size twelve with no recognizable tread pattern.

They were really good.

Robin was understandably so, frustrated by this case. It was in the middle of going over it all again that he heard the unmistakable sounds of fighting. He dropped down silently around a corner from the sounds and as he turned the corner he got a bit of a shock. He had expected a gang fight, had hoped for his group of vigilantes. What he got was a sight of one man, surrounded by a group of previously armed men, with a short sword in each hand and a mask that covered nearly his whole face. The masked man knelt down and wiped the blood on his blades on the clothes of one of his victims. Robin studied the surroundings. It was a roughly square area with one alley running off of each corner no two in the same direction. The buildings' walls were made of concrete and were bare.

"Crap! Looks like I screwed up." He declared to nobody as he examined a big gouge in the concrete wall in front of him.

"I'd have to agree," Robin stated stepping into sight. His mind was running a million miles an hour piecing things together. _So this guy has been taking out criminals on his own without being caught_? The more he thought about it the more it fit. The only question left was, who the hell is he. His mask was plain so he couldn't identify him by that.

"Who are you?" Robin said in a commanding tone.

The man gave a slight grin under his mask. "Me? I'm just a common criminal, right?"

"At least you're honest. So you have been running around town beating up bad guys, what do you want here?" Robin questioned while examining one of the unconscious men farther away from the masked man, keeping him in sight the whole time.

"I'm just doing my part for a safer America," he said with the same slight grin. "I always knew you'd figure me out, I guess I was just hoping to postpone this meeting a little longer. Seems I have overestimated myself again."

"Its a common failing among criminals. Now, why don't you make this easy on yourself and come peacefully"

"Oh, I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I was going to let you take me in. I have no intentions of serving any time, especially not for these assholes," He indicated the unconscious men by kicking one.

"Then how about for the two men you murdered," Robin nearly spat out.

"Two? Ah, anyhow I knew it would come to this difference of definitions," With that he took of at a dead sprint.

Robin threw a birdarang at him, but he just drew a sword and slashed it out of the air. Robin followed him around a corner to find an empty alley way. The only sign of life in the alley was a single crow feather floating down from above. Robin was so pissed at himself he let another birdarang fly at the feather. As he was digging the projectile from a wall he remembered the crime scene.

He came back to the mess and a few of the men were stirring, but all he had to do was cuff them and he made short work of that. He contacted the police as he examined the gouge in the wall made by the masked man. He realized that the gouge was very deep for a short sword to have made. He was very strong, definitely stronger than Robin himself and seemed to be faster at a sprint as well. Whoever this guy was he was no amateur. After passing off the thugs to PD he went back to his bike and headed home as fast as he could.

When he arrived back in the common room he got 4 stares. He looked around confused at why they were all staring. "What?"

Beastboy looked at the clock and shook his head. "Is the clock broken?" he asked Cyborg.

"No its only nine o'clock, B, who woulda thought we'd see the day the Boy Wonder decided to work less than he said he would."

"Oh, I forgot about that," he said realizing he had spent less than two hours out there.

"Crap, must be a sign of the apocalypse." Beastboy said in mock panic.

"I've been working a new case the past few weeks."

"Okay I think we're in the clear guys," Beastboy said letting out a sigh.

He directed a look that very clearly told BB to shut up. "I was tracking what appeared to be a group of vigilantes, only I discovered just now that it was one guy. He mostly takes down groups of criminals packing some serious hardware, he has even taken on some of the more minor meta-humans. His only weapons are two short swords. He also was able to escape me with no apparent use of gadgetry after I chased him around a corner. Oh and I have no clue who he is. He wore a plain mask with not a single marking on it."

"Okay, so basically you're telling us we got some ninja running around doing our job for us?" Beastboy said with no apparent understanding of the situation.

"We act with law on our side and we don't kill." Robin stated sharply.

At this Beastboy shrank back from the angry leader.

"How bout we start with a description from what you saw?" Cyborg got out in hopes of keeping him from going off.

Robin closed his eyes. "About six feet tall, big, very solid probably 250 pounds. Medium-dark skin tone. Couldn't get anything else of note. Oh I doubt this will help but he's left-handed."

"Wait how could you even tell that?" Beastboy sounded confused.

"Well its more of a conjecture based on the gouge he left in the wall being done with his left hand and the fact that he blocked my birdarang left-handed."

"If I remember correctly, that is very uncommon among humans, yes?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah only about nine percent of humans are left-handed," Cyborg stated. "Still likely won't help cause its not something most people will see right away."

"Do you have any ideas on how to find him or predict were he will strike?" Raven queried.

"No. I don't know anything about this guy other than his hobby is cutting up bad guys. The only thing I can think of is to set a trap for him, but I'm not even sure how to set one for this guy."

"Sounds like something we're gonna have to leave to chance, dude," said Beastboy neutrally.

"Unfortunately I have to agree with you BB, lets just keep our eyes and ears open for anything that might lead us to this..."

"Holy crap I have an idea!" BB said then transformed into a wolf and started sniffing like mad on the Boy Wonder.

"Beastboy I doubt this will help I came into contact with about twenty other people." Robin said somewhat defeated.

Shifting back he sat up, "You said you chased him away I should be able to find out what he smells like if you take me there."

"Wow, why didn't you think of that Robin?" Cyborg sounded stunned.

"Well if anyone here would come up with an idea involving animals, its Beastboy." Raven said plainly.

On the way there, Cyborg driving his T-car following Robins directions asked, "So why use the wolf to sniff for this guy, aren't bloodhounds bred for this kinda thing?"

"As far as dogs go they have the best nose but nothing beats a wolf when it comes to the sense of smell, except a bear, but most bears have pretty poor vision and are more noticable."

"So you been testing out your animals' abilities more?"

"Yeah, learning as much as I can from books and then testing it out to see how good the information is."

"Wait you read books that don't come in comic form?" Cyborg sounded flabbergasted.

"I do now," BB responded casually.

Unfortunately Beastboy's idea ended up not working. He had been able to figure out the scent of the vigilante by following Robin's scent away from the crime scene. After he followed around the corner for a few feet though he lost the trail completely as if the man had disappeared.

"Well at least I know what he smells like now," Beastboy said sounding cheerful as they arrived back in the common room, "Even in my normal form I should be able to recognize it if its more recent or if I'm lucky enough to come across him."

Robin sat down on the couch and looked at the ceiling for a few moments. "Yeah that at least we have, but I don't understand how he did it."

"What do you mean?" Raven said from her corner where she was reading.

"He not only escaped me but did it in a way that eluded Beastboy's nose. The only I can see physically was up and I heard nor saw evidence of grappling hooks. So I guess he could always be a magician or a meta-human, but if he could teleport or fly I don't see why he would waste time running around the corner," Robin said all off this while thinking of all the possibilities he could come up with.

"Well I seriously doubt he used any magic to get away. I would likely have felt it while we were there, but we have no way of guessing if he is a meta or not," Raven said in her usual monotone.

"I'm guessing you have already tried talking to those he attacked," Cyborg started and after receiving a confirming look from Robin went on, "Well we could always try the criminals we know, or better yet, we can ask Jinx if she knows anything."

"Actually, I already tried that but she had less to go on then and I was wrong about numbers so maybe she can help now."

Cyborg walked over to the computer and brought up a communications line for Jinx's T-comp.

"I swear to god, if you're callin about those damn vigilantes again, I'll stab you!" Jinx said through a yawn.

"Good to see you too," Robin said as she realized she was on the line with all of them and received a gleeful wave from Starfire. "I was wrong, it was one guy. I had a little run in with him earlier."

"One guy? You gotta be kidding me," Jinx retorted in surprise.

"Well, I have a bit of a description of him, I was hoping it would help."

"No it won't. I never heard of any guy doing that kinda stuff on his own that wasn't a super-hero. Seeing as how you know more heroes than me, I think you guys are on your own," Jinx gave them a little wave and then hung up.

"Well crap," Cyborg said.

"Later I'll go back out looking for him again. But for now I guess I have a promise to keep." Robin said turning to Starfire.

"You wanted to go to the mall, right?" he said as they walked towards the hall.

"Yes, I will need some time to get ready though," Starfire replied.

"Okay then, meet in the garage in 30 minutes?"

"That should be sufficient time," she smiled.

After Dick got out of the shower and saw he had more than ten minutes left he decided to make a call.

"Dick," was the stoic reply.

Still putting on his uniform he set the communicator down on his dresser and talked while he dressed. "How are things in Gotham, Bruce?"

"Quiet for once. I hear you have been having trouble."

"You could say that," Dick sent a copy of his report. "Seen anything like this?"

If he was surprised he showed no sign of it. "No nothing quite like this. I'll keep an eye out for anything that might help you though."

"How's Alfred?" done dressing he sat on his bed and held the T-comp.

"Same as ever, and still won't hear anything about taking a vacation," Dick thought he actually saw a smile cross the man's face.

"Surprise their. How about Babs?" Dick continued his line of questioning.

"She's getting better. I think you should talk to her sometime."

Dick glanced uneasily at the clock, "Yeah I guess I should... look I gotta go, see ya."

Batman's only response was a nod then he turned off the communication.

Later Robin and Starfire were at the mall and after some time spent looking around and buying useless things they were at the food court. Of course they were still watched by most of the people in the room, but no one bothered them so they just ignored it and talked about inconsequential subjects over food.

At Star's request they went to the park after, since there wouldn't be so many prying eyes and ears.

While they were there Robin started thinking about many things during the silences. Mostly he thought about who he was and what he would do about his secret identity. He knew it was too much to ask to expect her to go on dating him if he couldn't even share that much with her. This train of thought got to him so much that he made a few slips and was sure Starfire knew what was going on. So he forced himself away from those thoughts for now and noticed a small tenseness melt away from her he hadn't noticed before. Of course the thoughts came back to him periodically, but he managed to keep it to a minimum until later that evening when he elected to go back out on another patrol.

Night patrols were usual for the Titans as of recent times and tonight was Raven and Cyborg's turn so he didn't have to worry about too many interruptions. He called up Raven only to find out Cyborg had switched with Beastboy.

"He said something about his car," Beastboy responded when asked why.

Robin then called Cyborg. "What are you doing exactly?"

"I told Beastboy I needed to work on my car," was his straight faced response.

"I'm more interested in the truth,"Robin replied in a tone that gave no room for argument. "Is this another attempt to catch them in some compromising situation?"

"No, I was actually just giving them an excuse to spend more time together. I don't think they know that we know about them. Of course if I do catch them in any compromising situations that would be a bonus," Cyborg said with a big grin on his face.

"They really don't need you perving on them."

Cyborg responded with a big laugh and then said. "I guess I can cut them some slack. So how are things with you and Star?"

"I... I think I need to finally tell her who I am."

"I'm surprised I thought you used the whole secret identity thing to get the ladies," Cyborg joked around then asked, "Still all the reservations cause of old man Bat?"

"That's part of it. Honestly I'm afraid to let anyone in on it. I was raised on suspicion and brutal training."

"I hear that's bad for hormone levels. I think I see what you mean, but ultimately you gotta make the choice. Man you're really chatty today, I gotta go replace a transmission see ya."

Robin closed his T-comp with a small smile on his face. He then flipped it back open and made another call.

"Listen I know this is probably a bad time for you to talk, but I need to tell you something," Robin said as a way of greeting.

There was a slight jerking motion as Batman knocked out some street thug. "Two calls in less than twelve hours I figured it would be important," He replied impassively.

"I'm going to tell my team who I am. I'm going to start with Starfire she probably won't understand, but one of the others is likely to," Robin said it that way just in case someone was listening and knew Batman would get it anyway.

"I take it you have been thinking about this for a long time," Batman said not giving away how he felt about it or his choice in order.

"Yeah and I trust them with my life. I don't plan on making it public to all the Titans yet, but I need to give them this especially with how well the guys took the news of me knowing all about them from the beginning."

"I heard they didn't take it well at all."

"Oh they didn't but all things considered it went pretty well and they got over it pretty quickly," he said with a grin. "So what do you think?"

"I think I gave up trying to tell you what to do about three years ago," Batman stated simply.

That seemed about the straightest answer Robin was going to get from him so he said. "Thanks, bye."

"Just know that if this comes back to me I'll make you regret it."

Robin closed his communicator and felt a weight lift off his chest. He stood on the edge of the building for a few more minutes and then for once decided to go home without doing any actual patrolling.

A short while later saw him in the gym furiously beating on the punching bag. He was too damn nervous to actually do it. He had frozen up in the middle of going to knock on Starfire's door. _Crap. I thought this would be the easy part._ After about twenty minutes of punishing the bag for his frustration he went back to his room to clean up and get an early start on his nightly routine of staying up later than he should obsessing over cases.

Or at least he was going to until he stepped back out of his room and nearly got run over by Star.

"Oh, I'm sorry I was not watching where I was going," Star said looking somewhat distracted.

"Is something wrong?" Robin questioned with some concern in his voice.

"No, I was just thinking of Tamaran. I tend to area out when I think of it," Star said with a slight smile on her face.

"Its zone out," he corrected on instinct and then said, "You just saved me the time to look for you anyway." He had to act now before he lost the nerve again.

"What did you require me for?" she inquired.

He opened up his door and motioned inside. She went inside and he followed her, every step building more tension in his body. By the time they stood in the center of the room he felt like he couldn't do it anymore. He turned and leaned on the dresser.

"Robin?" Starfire sounded worried.

Hearing that name he looked up into the mirror on top of his dresser. He met his "eyes" and for the first time in a long time **really** saw his mask. He saw what an impenetrable shield it was. That was essentially the idea, but if he never took it off then that's all his friends would see as well.

He stood up straight feeling the strength back in his limbs. He then peeled the mask off and turned back toward Starfire.

To say she looked surprised would have been an understatement. "Ro..."

He interjected, "My name is Richard Grayson."

There were tears in her eyes. "Richard." She then jumped into his arms. She then looked into his eyes for the second time and said, "My name is Kori'ander."

He gave her a big smile and stole a kiss. It was much more passionate than any other he could recall. He felt like he never wanted it to stop. After some time spent this way they just held each other for a while.

She then stepped away holding her arms to herself and said, "Well I suppose you would like to get started on your case work now." She looked away self consciously.

Looking at the time he said, "I was actually wondering if you wanted to watch a movie."

"I would most enjoy watching a movie with you, Richard," she stated with an ecstatic look.

He slipped his mask into a pocket and walked to the door leading the way.

"You are not going to put your mask back on?" Starfire asked hopefully.

"I've been thinking about this for a while now and I figure I don't need it around you guys."

At this she smiled and they continued toward the common room. When they arrived Beastboy turned from his and Cyborg's game, and promptly lost because he did not turn back.

"Oh come on, B, you even tryin?" Cyborg turned at Beastboy and followed his gaze. Where he stood transfixed for a moment until he went for his communicator and called Raven.

"What is it?" Raven sounded distracted.

"I think you should come to the common room, now."

"Any reason why?" she was sounding annoyed now.

"Yer gonna have to see it to believe it."

"Okay, this better not be some stupid prank or I'll make you regret it," she then popped out of the floor first looking at Cyborg but then she noticed he and Beastboy were staring past her.

She turned around and then after a moment of stunned silence said, "So, you do have eyes."

At this Dick let out a loud laugh. "I do indeed. So who wants to watch a movie?"

"I think I'm seeing things," Beastboy said and made his way over to the kitchen where he poured himself a cup of water.

"Oh and I forgot to mention, my name is Richard Grayson." Their reactions were similar to what he expected, though Beastboy's was a little more extreme.

Beastboy choked on his water and Cyborg looked thoughtful. "I know I have heard that name somewhere before," Cyborg stated looking into space thinking hard.

Raven looked unimpressed. Dick looked at Beastboy with a grin. Knowing who Beastboy was he figured BB would know his name well. "Dick Grayson as in heir to the... Holy shit does that mean Batman is..." he looked like his head was going to explode. He didn't seem to be able to process the information.

Cyborg looked like he was thinking harder. "Okay I know I've heard of you now but what's got his panties in a bunch."

"Dick Grayson heir to the Wayne fortune!" Beastboy yelled, "He's practically more well known than Robin himself."

"Oh that's right," Cyborg had a look of realization. "So you mean to tell me, that Bruce Wayne is Batman?" Cyborg said skeptically then turned to Beastboy. "And why would you know his name so well? Don't tell me you been secretly holding a flame for little Dickie over there."

"Why would Beastboy hold a flame for you and why are they calling you such strange names when you told them your name is Richard?" Starfire whispered to him.

"It's a figure of speech and Cyborg is just giving him a hard time. Dick is a nickname for people named Richard," he said without even looking away from the two.

"And what is so surprising about Batman's real identity?" She inquired further.

"Bruce Wayne is one of the richest men on the planet. Which I suppose is how Richard here got us this Tower in the first place," Raven stated.

"Ah so you knew that name, anyway," Dick replied.

"Well he does have a building in the city, besides he is always on the news for being a first rate slut."

At this all three guys stared at her for a few seconds then burst out laughing at the same time. Starfire looked around confused for a few moments until Raven whispered something in Star's ear.

"You should not say such things about Richards father," she exclaimed while blushing.

"He's been called much worse by people who had malicious intent before," Dick stated simply.

"Anyway I was serious about the movie, anyone want to watch something?" Dick questioned.

"Well actually since Dick is sharing I guess I'll share too. My name is Garfield Logan, although you all knew my first name," Beastboy said to Cyborg and Starfire, then to all of them, "Call me Gar."

"Well all right, my name is Victor Stone," Cyborg said happily.

"I am Kori'ander," Star said smiling at them all.

They all looked expectantly at Raven. "What? My name is Raven."

"Really? You don't even have a last name?" Gar said feeling cheated.

"There were no last names in Azerath. Although my mother's original last name was Roth.," she replied with seemingly less monotone than usual.

"Well now that we have all made introductions, movie time," Richard said.

Turning forward Vic said to Gar, "You still never told me why you're stalking Dick."

Garfield rolled his eyes and said, "My step-father is Steve Dayton the only man in the states richer than Bruce Wayne."

"And that's an excuse for stalking poor delicate Dick here?"

Rolling his eyes again Gar said, "He told me about Bruce and his kid simply because he was another multi-billionaire."

"Likely story," Vic said with an evil laugh.

"Leave it you two, we got a movie to watch," Dick said trying to sound authoritative through his grin.

A/N So, I hope you enjoyed that. Anyone wanna guess how our mysterious vigilante pulled it off? I won't tell anyone if they are right or wrong, but it will help me know if I am predictable I suppose. Please review.


	2. The Hunt

The next morning Dick woke up to his alarm clock at six actually feeling refreshed. As he showered he went over the things still bothering him.

First he thought of the masked man. He still had no real clues as to how he escaped and there had been no more incidents that looked like him since yesterday morning. After a few minutes mulling that over he came back to his question about heroes. Part of it was he had been having a hard time figuring out what kind of hero he truly wanted to be. He knew he needed to get out of Batman's shadow but he didn't feel he could bring out Nightwing until he had his own answer to his question. He just wished it didn't bug him so much.

Dick made it down to the common room and noted it was 631. Raven was busy with her morning routine so he went about his. As he sat down at the computer with his breakfast he decided to look more personally into the vigilante case.

Mostly he saw things he already knew. The guy used blades seemed to tend towards minimal force except with those two known cases and almost never left a trace. There were no skin samples, no blood samples, no strands of hair, no finger prints, and only an untraceable footprint and a gouge in a concrete wall. He did find something interesting though. The guy had never once done anything, that was found at least, on a Wednesday. He wasn't sure how he had missed that, but it was definitely interesting.

"Hey, Raven do you have any idea why someone would avoid a daily routine specifically on a Wednesday?" Dick questioned in a break of routine.

She looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "There is no custom or religious belief that I know of that would keep someone form a daily routine, so I would guess it is something personal," She reasoned.

"Figures, nothing that can actually help us unless we know more about him," he replied sounding frustrated.

"This about the vigilante from yesterday?" she came over and looked over his shoulder noting he had a calender with all the Wednesdays highlighted up on the computer she went on, "So he never strikes on Wednesday, we know whatever it is he is doing is more important to him than fighting thugs."

"We don't know what it is though. Until we know that we won't know if we can exploit it. Thanks for the input though," he leaned back and thought about any possibility as to what the guy was doing on his days off. He then looked up to the clock. "Shit! Today is Wednesday"

"Sharp detective work there, Richard." He saw her hiding a smile behind her teacup.

"Well, I suppose there is no reason to look for him this morning is there? I guess I'll just have to settle for whatever Vic and I can scrounge up tonight."

"That's the spirit," Raven said blandly.

"Joyous morning friends!" Kori came bursting in through the doors and of course went for Dick. Yet again blushing even though only Raven was in the room and she wouldn't stare anyway. Dick returned her hug.

Later when they were all finished with their morning routines and Gar and Vic were playing the Gamestation and the others were mostly just sitting and watching Dick spoke again, "Well Raven and I found out that we probably won't have to worry about the vigilante striking today."

Without looking away from his game Garfield spoke, "How do you figure that?"

"Well in the time he has been in Jump he has never once done anything traceable on a Wednesday," Richard explained.

At this Gar's character was killed brutally by Vic's and they both turned to him. "Well I guess its good we don't have to worry about him, but will you be alright without someone to chase for a whole day?" Victor said in mock sincerity.

"I should be fine I'll just drill you guys until I get tired and call it a day," he replied with a grin. "Come on every one, training time."

He had arrived in town about half an hour ago. He enjoyed certain parts of Riverside over Jump city. For one it was less crowded. In some parts of the county it was actually rural area. Though he was in the titular city so it was still a bit crowded. The other thing he liked was it was relatively safe as it wasn't a large city by any standards. He followed his usual routine of going to the same flower shop he always did.

"Long time no see, you!" the lady behind the counter exclaimed. "I feel like its been a week since you were here."

He smiled at that and then said, "I try to stick to the same boring routine. Anything you'd recommend this week?"

"These lily's are definitely a good choice." she said sounding like she said it a million times.

"So, who's the special lady you buy flowers for all the time?" she questioned with a cheeky look about her.

"Oh I try not to let the same woman hold me down for too long," he joked then as he walked out with his purchase he waved and said, "Thanks Jess!"

He then made his way on the short walk towards the apartment complex a few blocks away.

He made it to his destination and knocked on the door to the apartment.

"Jason!" was the reply as the door was answered.

"Man I can never catch you by surprise can I?" Jason replied.

"Well maybe if you visited on a day besides a Wednesday then I would be surprised," she said while feeling around on the shelf for the vase. "Damn maid you hired must have moved my stuff again, I swear that woman just likes pissing me off."

"Here let me help, Sammy." Jason got up and grabbed it for her.

She gave out a frustrated sigh. "I'm blind, not an invalid," she said reproachfully.

"I know that, you make sure I never forget, but that doesn't change the fact that your my little sister and I am not going to watch you stumble if I can help," Jason replied in a calm tone.

"Well you already do more than enough for me. I don't even know how hard you work for all that you have given me, but I do know you always seem tired whenever I hear from you," she said with a few tears in her eyes. "Its not fair for you to have to do so much for me."

"Hey," he said grabbing Sammy's hand. "If it weren't for you I might have been the one blinded instead. Besides you'd do it for me. Even if I wasn't blind."

"That doesn't make this situation any better its still unfair for you."

"Oh yes cause I'm the one who got the short straw. I came out with minor emotional trauma. You came out with that and you lost your eyesight. I think I can deal with helping you out with your money problems."

"You know you make it impossible to feel sorry for you," Sammy claimed with a huff. "Alright, besides we shouldn't be arguing this is our time to hang out."

"Exactly, so anything special happen this week?"

At this she blushed and looked down, a habit she had not lost despite being blind. "Nothing in particular," she said with a perfectly even tone.

"This "nothing in particular" wouldn't happen to involve a guy would it?"

"What makes you say that?" she said voice still even.

"You're a terrible liar, Samantha. Why don't you trust me with these things?"

"Probably cause of Brad." she stated blandly.

"That's not even fair, he was cheating on you," said Jason in a defensive tone.

"So you broke his arm, don't you think that's a little extreme?"

"Hey, he tried to stab me!"

"Yeah, but Jenny told me you had his arm locked up for at least five seconds before you did it." Samantha was starting to yell now.

He looked away guiltily and didn't speak for a minute. "That was we were teens and I was already pissed off at myself. I just took it out on him cause I saw him messing around behind your back. That's really the reason I always keep my temper in check now. That was the last time I really lost my cool. I mean honestly how often can you recall when I lost my temper?" He had promised himself he would never lift his hand in anger since that had happened. So far he had been able to keep that one.

"I just worry about you. Whenever you call me you always sound ready to kill. That scares me," she replied quietly.

"Look I promise I won't kill him until he breaks your heart," Jason joked around and made a mental note to call her when he **wasn't** ready to kill sometime. "Is there any chance of me meeting him today?"

"Not until the afternoon, he works nights at some club downtown. So he won't be up for a while. At around five I can give you his address if you want to go."

"Okay I guess that works, for now though what should we do?"

Gar was definitely wiped out. They hadn't had such rigorous training in quite some time. Dick probably did it cause they didn't do much yesterday, but somehow this didn't make it any better. He remembered that he was supposed to see Raven in a little while. He guessed that he probably shouldn't show up smelling like he did, and he was hungry so he made a couple detours.

When he showed up to Raven's room she let him in silently as she always did. "So what do you want to talk about today?" she said as he sat down on the reclining chair.

"Really, I can't think of anything that is still bugging me overly much anymore," Gar said in all seriousness.

"Well is there anything about the mental exercises I gave you that you would like clarified?" Raven questioned.

"Umm... I think I got it all down so, no. I think... I think I'm happy. I mean really happy. I haven't felt like this since I was with the Doom Patrol," he was starting to ramble near the end.

"Its definitely a good thing that you are happy now. I guess for now we should break away from the schedule and you can just ask me anytime you feel you need my help. Don't forget about the exercises and if you try to bottle anything up on us then I will be forced to track you down and drag you out of your shell," she was worried that much was certain, but she knew that he was actually happy. In truth she had felt it for quite a while coming from him. She stood up and stretched then said, "Well I suppose that's it for today then."

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out like this maybe some other time." Garfield said with a blush creeping up his neck. "I think I'd miss talking with you like this. I feel like I can tell you anything."

"You know, you can tell anyone of the others anything," Raven said in comforting voice missing his blush.

"That's not the only reason I would like to hang out with you more." he couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes.

That was when Raven realized what it was she was feeling from Garfield. "Oh, I... I really need to meditate right now. Could we talk later instead?" she blurted out.

"Oh, sure that's fine." he said with a smile and went for the door.

She could feel the hurt though and it made her want to cry. As he got farther away she could feel the hurt turn to anger. "Oh Azar, now he probably hates me," she said to no one with a hitch in her voice. She then did meditate since her emotions were starting to swirl around and she very well might lose control at this rate.

"Why do you have to be so stupid," Garfield berated himself as he locked himself in his room and slid down to the floor. "Of course she wouldn't be interested in dating the crazy guy."

He got up and did what was his new custom whenever he was brooding. He started reading one of the multitude of texts on animals Raven had gotten him. He figured if he was going to brood he may as well do something constructive with his time. It also helped him calm down and look at things from a more clinical perspective. Once he calmed down sometime later he decided to go see if anything interesting was on TV.

Kori'ander was definitely happier now that Richard had shared more of himself with her and the others. She could tell that something else besides the vigilante was bothering him though and it worried her that she didn't know what it was. He of course hid it very well and rarely if ever gave any clues as to what it was. Likely the only other person who had noticed was Raven but she had her mind occupied on Garfield's problems so Kori didn't think she would know anything other than what Richard was feeling.

She decided to look for Raven anyway to have a talk at least. She found Raven meditating on the rooftop as was her first instinct.

"I am sorry for the interruption if you must continue, but I was hoping we could talk," Kori'ander intruded softly. This was something no one took lightly as it was nearly the only time Raven had snapped at anyone in recent memory.

"No its alright Kori, I was just finishing up." Raven stood and stretched. "Anything in particular you wanted to talk about," Raven said trying to bury her sorrow.

It did not work Kori noticed a catch in Raven's voice. "What troubles you friend Raven?"

"Nothing's wrong," Raven lied perfectly this time.

Kori would not be deterred though. She got a stubborn look in her eye and said, "Raven I am not a fool please do not treat me as such. I am guessing since you are trying so hard to hide it it has something to do with friend Garfield?"

"W-what makes you think that?" she was starting to blush now. She turned around and made a mental note to meditate more, she couldn't pass a lie past a drunk blind man anymore.

"Raven it is obvious how you feel about him."

"You don't know what your talking about. We are just friends."

"You want to be more though," Kori felt like it was past time that some pushed these two out of their sitting positions and forced them to stop ignoring how they felt. If that push had to be more of a kick she was willing to give it.

"Look will you just drop it!" she nearly yelled.

"Raven, I don't see why you are being so stubborn about this. I'm sure Garfield would return your affections if you would give them."

"Its kind of a moot point now," Raven nearly choked as she said this.

"What do you mean?"

"He... he was trying to ask me out and I freaked out told him I needed to meditate, which ended up being true, he probably hates me now," she said in a quavering voice and then sat down.

Kori went over and sat down next to Raven and gave her a light hug. Raven gave a small sniffle. "You are being silly," Kori said loudly.

This was not what Raven expected and she looked at Kori'ander with wide eyes. "W-what?" she managed to stutter out.

"Trust me when I say this Garfield would not hate you unless you tried to kill him, and even then I doubt it would come easily to him."

"Well I know that he was hurt when he left and got really angry soon after," she said forlornly.

"Raven, I believe you are misunderstanding why he was angry," Kori said patiently.

She shot Kori a venomous look. "Don't patronize me. I hurt him he got angry what is there to understand?"

"I am certain that if you just talk to friend Garfield he will understand," Kori stated still using her patient tone.

"Alright if it will get you to stop bugging me about it I'll talk to him." Raven stood up and made her way to the door. Slowly.

Kori'ander sat there for a few moments hoping that she had gone about it the right way. After all if something bad happened between those two they could all end up losing one or more friends. She then got up and followed suit.

Gar had been watching TV for a while when something started nagging at him. He kept watching TV for a while, but it did not go away. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he knew it had something to do with Raven. He couldn't blame the way she reacted, although he felt hurt she had to lie to him, but if she wasn't interested there was nothing he could do about it.

He had the feeling he was getting close to it. Like it was just beyond reach and almost visible to him. He just hoped she didn't start avoiding him or get angry at him for making things awkward. It hit him like an explosion.

He was up like a gunshot searching for Raven. He did not want her to think he was angry at her. That could end up worse than anything else if he didn't fix it.

Raven turned a corner and got bowled over for her efforts. "What in the world is wrong with you!" she yelled, and felt a mixture of panic and anxiety from her assailant.

"Sorry Raven." She froze at the voice and saw the legs from under her hood. She had not expected to have to talk to him so soon after escaping Kori. "I wanted to let you know I'm not mad at you."

Her eyes shot up to his face at these words. "W-what?" she felt she was stuttering entirely too much today.

He knelt down with a sad smile on his face. "I realized just now you probably thought I was mad at you," he said in an equally sad tone. "I was mad at myself. I should have known you didn't like me like that."

"That's not true!" she blurted out and then started blushing.

"W-what?" It was Gar's turn to stutter.

"I just panicked when you started asking me out. Although I did end up needing to meditate anyway so it wasn't entirely a lie," she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes so she looked at the floor. "Are you sure you not mad at me?"

"Why should I be? We all panic sometimes. Besides you are relatively new to expressing your emotions." he reasoned with his goofy grin in place.

"I do want to try for a relationship Garfield, I'm just not sure if I'm ready yet," she said.

This barely put a dent in his mood and did not touch his smile. "That's okay I'm willing to wait. If you need space right now that's fine, but just tell me when your ready."

Her eyes started tearing up and she hugged him. "I thought I had lost a friend."

"Never lose me," he stated reassuringly.

"Kori said something along those lines, except it involved me killing you."

"Well Kori is a smart girl," Gar said between chuckles.

Cyborg had been brooding. He was the least likely, besides Kori, of the Titans to be caught brooding. Yet he had been brooding nonetheless. There were multiple subjects, most recently it had been of a more romantic nature. He knew his friends would not exclude him from anything but he could not help feeling somewhat left out. Dick and Kori had been a couple for quite a while now and he had just overheard Gar and Raven talking and they were about half a step away from being a couple. It wasn't simply that they all were together either. It had just as much to do with his body. He wasn't exactly attractive to the eye. Considering this, it wouldn't exactly be easy to find someone willing to look past that.

He decided to go to the park as he would do often when he was feeling down. It was still early afternoon so he might catch the kids and be able to play a few games with them.

As luck would have it he did get to see the kids. He also met their new teacher.

After the last game he was approached by a woman. "Hi my name is Sarah the kids have told me so much about you Mr. Cyborg."

By this time he had already told the kids, they must not have had a chance to tell her with all the playing. "Just call me Victor. I don't believe I have heard about you."

"I only started working at the school four days ago, but they have already filled me in on all your exploits," Sarah said with a smile.

"I hope they told you only the good things," he said half joking.

"Oh they told me all about the time you got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by Starfire," she said jovially.

"Ah man, there goes my infallible facade," he said laughing. "Well it was nice to meet you Sarah, but I gotta be back at the tower soon or Robin will be breathing down my neck about the patrol tonight."

He then exchanged goodbyes with the children and left.

Jason and Samantha arrived at Daniel's apartment about a quarter after five. "You seem nervous," Jason stated with an impish smile.

"Its not every day your crazy older brother meets your boyfriend of a whole week," she retorted.

"I can honestly say that has never happened to me," Jason stated.

"I knew you were gay," Sammy quipped.

"What? You afraid Imma steal him from you?"

"I can never win with you, can I?"

"That's cause I'm much cuter than you," he replied with a laugh.

At that Sam just rolled her eyes and rang the door bell. The door was answered by a man similar in age to Jason and about the same height, but of a slim build. Jason started talking nearly immediately, "Hi, I'm Jason. I believe you know my sister." At this he indicated Sammy and when the guy nodded he continued, "I'm here to kill you."

At this Daniel's eyes widened to epic proportions. Then Samantha knocked Jason on the head and said, "You promised no murdering would occur tonight."

"No I promised I wouldn't murder him until he broke your heart," Jason said with a smile as he followed her in.

"Okay, I guess that works for me, seeing as I don't plan on doing that," Daniel said casually.

"Well that's good to hear," Jason said. "Murdering isn't exactly easy. I mean killing is the easy part, but then you gotta cover your tracks and that's no easy feet with forensic technology the way it is these days."

"I definitely believe you two are related, you both have the same twisted sense of humor. At least I try to convince myself its humor," Daniel said in a dry voice.

Some time later Daniel stood up and said, "Well I'd love to spend more time with you guys but I gotta get ready for work. Sam told me you visit every Wednesday. Your welcome here anytime." He lead them to the door in Samantha's case by hand. The two shared a kiss and then Jason and Samantha left.

"He called you Sam," Jason said plainly.

"He did indeed."

"You don't let anyone call you that. You must really like him."

At this Sammy blushed. "Does this mean he has your approval?"

"He seems to get you. I'm happy for you." Jason then put an arm over Samantha's shoulder and they contacted a cab service and waited next to the street.

"So when will I get to meet someone special for you?" Samantha said as they arrived at her complex

"Oh you know me, no woman will ever tie me down, unless its for kinky sex," he replied jokingly.

"Eww I so did not need to think about that. Well you be careful out there Casanova." She then waved to him and walked towards her apartment.

Ever since she had saved him that day he had thrown himself into making sure she had what she needed. Even with his crime-fighting more recently he had made sure she lived comfortably. This was also why she lived in Riverside rather than closer to Jump. He would not risk her safety for his convenience.

He turned and walked off. Time to rest up for another day of work.

Dick was up at 533. At first not fully awake and aware he was not sure why he had woken. But he was fast in coming to normal function after sleeping, and thinking it over a few moments he realized it was probably because he was going on the hunt and was anxious to catch this vigilante. He needed to get this guy off the streets. He got about getting ready for the day almost immediately.

When he arrived in the common room it was exactly 600. He even got there before Raven, albeit only by a few minutes. She showed no sign of being surprised at his presence. Not that Richard expected her to let anything show, or even be surprised at that.

After she had eaten and had her tea she came over to where Dick was intently studying the computer screen. "Find anything that looks like a possible hit on our mysterious vigilante?" she often skipped pleasantries anyway.

"No. I didn't expect to find anything yet. He has only left traces this early once before. He's very good at covering his tracks so I can't tell if its because he starts later usually or if he is just **that** good."

"What kind of time are we looking at for him to close up shop?"

"Same deal. Seems like he just goes however long he feels like and whenever he feels like," Richard was definitely sounding frustrated. "The others will be up soon. So lets come up with some kinda search plan."

While the others were eating there meals, Dick explained his plans for the day, "Okay no training, but no leisure time today. Raven and Kori are going to take to the air to search for this guy. The rest of us will go on foot and we'll use Gar's nose to try and sniff him out. I want to get this guy today. This guy may not be trying to go on a random killing spree, or destroy the city, but he is still a killer and we have absolutely no idea what he is capable of, so be careful."

Apparently even Gar did not feel it was appropriate to joke here.

The Teen Titans were out hunting mere minutes later. The day was long and hard and they fought off random crimes as they came across them. They met up back home midday to go over any possibilities and eat. They were back out shortly thereafter. No one gave any sign of chafing at the day's orders and no one complained, well Beastboy joked about Robin being a slave-driver, but no one took him seriously about it. Robin was proud his team was definitely more mature than when they started. The same went for him.

Early in the evening they had their first find. Starfire and Raven found a sight that had the guy's MO splashed on it like red paint. They relaid the coordinates to the guys then went on searching for him. When the guys got there Beastboy picked up his scent immediately and followed it. Unfortunately it looked like they'd never track him like this because he pulled the same vanishing act he had before.

Later nearing on 2200 Starfire reported in on a chance encounter with Adonis and Cinderblock.

"Shit, what is your status?" Robin had to yell to be heard on the other end.

"We are presently fine, but I do not believe we can handle both of them on our own." Starfire had to duck more than one thrown object saying this.

"We'll be there as soon as possible," he replied as he started tracking their location.

Robin took to the rooftops as Beastboy picked up Cyborg and they flew off.

As Robin was traversing the rooftops he heard gunshots from an alleyway. Without a second thought he whipped out his communicator and called Cy. "I hear gunshots. You guys should be enough help for those two. I got this."

"Okay dude, but be careful. See ya in a bit."

Robin did not respond he looked over the top of the building he heard the shots come from. He saw one man surrounded by armed men. So he did what came as natural as breathing for him. He threw down smoke grenades and landed an instant after they blew and by the time the smoke was clear all the men were unconscious. He looked around and saw about twice as many out as he had taken down.

"Thanks for that one I suppose I owe you, even if it wasn't necessary."

Robin spun on the man realization dawning on him. "If you feel it will repay your debt you could always give up and come to jail."

"That is too much payment for any debt," he replied smiling.

"Well of course. So are you gonna run this time?"

"I actually felt like a chat."

"You know that's what usually happens with you types." Robin was watching him for even the slightest twitch.

"Ah, but I'm not crazy. Who knows maybe you could learn something."

"I doubt it." In reality Robin was waiting for an opening. While this guy may look relaxed to the untrained eye he always had his arms covering weak points.

"You know, I have been studying super-heroes for quite some time. Of course I found similarities to what I do, but I found differences as well. You know what the biggest one is?"

"You're a murderer," Robin said no emotion evident in his voice.

He got a soft chuckle for his trouble. "You really think no one in your line of work kills or has killed? That is naivete to an extreme. No, the biggest difference is simply how we are displayed. Batman used to be more like me. He was at most a myth. Now he is a super-hero and along with that comes the responsibility of being in the spotlight. I mean what is a super-hero really? What makes him more than a hero? It is not method. Its definitely not the cape." This hit a nerve and distracted Robin as he had been thinking similar things recently. "What do you think really defines a super-hero?"

Robin did not answer mostly cause he did not have one.

He lost his grin then."Well I'll tell you the main difference right now between you and me is not what a hero is. I know my limits and rules and I know when I can push them. I even got a pretty good idea of when I can break them. Do you know yours? Or are you living under some other person's rules and limits?"

"I think that's just an excuse to be lazy and murder. I don't think you aren't willing to break any rule."

"I think your too much like Batman. You go full tilt until your body gives out. You have got to learn to accept that you can't save the world on your own. Even Superman understands that. You have four team mates anyone of which would give their life for you."

"Why do you do this? The real reason."

"Some one has to keep the world from falling apart while the dreamers change it."

"See, now your contradicting yourself."

"First of all, I never said I was saving the world. Second, who says I'm alone? Do you think I'm really the only person who does what I do?" He paused to see if Robin would respond.

"No organizations, pretty much like the super-heroes other than that. Just a bunch of people who see the world falling apart around them and decide you guys need some help. Only met a few myself. There probably aren't as many of us as there are super-heroes. We all know the risks. For our methods we are branded criminals by your type and hunted down like any other criminal. Many have died defending what they believe in. Some got caught."

"Why are you even telling me this?"

"Maybe I'm just goin' soft. I don't really know."

"So, you never gave me a name. Since your in the sharing mood why not enlighten me?"

"You know what? Why not? You can call me Jason. For the the man who would find the Golden Fleece."

Robin could tell this guy was jerking him around, but to what end? It was at this point that something black shot from Jason and pinned Robin to the wall.

A/N Oh man a cliffhanger? How could I? Well if anyone wants to guess this time I'd be willing to share, but I don't think you will get it personally. Next one will be up within the next 2 or 3 days. Please Review!


	3. Enemies New and Old

A/N So I had more free time than I thought I would and I thought to myself just do it. I'm not sure why the Nike slogan, but Imma just roll with it. I also realized just now I have talked about my favorites. I just took out some of the stuff that didn't really belong in there, but I think you guys should at the very least check out Kryalla Orchid's stuff. If you actually enjoy what I write then her stuff will blow you away. The next I would suggest would be Japhith although to be perfectly honest it doesn't look like he will finish his two main series. I just remembered even though this is most likely pointless **I do not own Teen Titans**, if you for any reason thought I did you are probably delusional.

Robin had to fight to keep consciousness. He felt his whole torso was pinned against the wall. He looked at what was holding him. At first he could not make sense of what he saw. Then black feathers started floating down in front of him. That was when he realized he was being held by the two largest wings he had ever seen.

"Damn, need to work on my aim. Oh well." He then pushed until the blackness took over Robin.

"Richard?" the voice had been calling him insistent for some time.

He then shot up and found himself in the infirmary at the tower. He then saw all the other Titans standing around him. "How long was I out?"

"Only a few minutes since we found you, Raven got us here," Victor began, "So what happened? We got done handing the two blockheads over to PD and then we find you covered in feathers not twenty feet from a couple dozen tied up thugs."

Dick moved a little stiffly. "Bastard has wings," he said while stretching.

"Dude, is this about the vigilante? Cause I thought I smelled him but I didn't have a chance to look around," Gar asked curiously.

"Yeah. Oh he also calls himself Jason after the leader of the Argonauts. Had a nice chat, then his wings literally popped out of nowhere and pinned me to the wall."

"Well that's good to know," Raven said dryly.

"Okay, now that we know how he has been escaping detection we know we need to go about this in a different way," Dick stated while registering all the parts that hurt. "There is no real reason to have Gar try to follow his scent. Looks like its time we come up with a trap for him."

"Do you know what will work?" Kori asked.

"Still need to think on that one," Dick was lost in thought.

"Well whatever it is, it is going to have to wait at least until after tomorrow," Raven intruded on his thinking. "You had two cracked ribs. You may not feel it yet but trust me you are going to be exhausted for the time being."

Dick gave a sigh. "Okay, its going to take at least a couple days to set up a trap anyway." He got up and as soon as he did he felt very lightheaded and started to lose his balance, but Kori caught his shoulder.

"This also means no patrols. Am I clear?" Raven continued putting emphasis on the last words.

"Yes, Ma'am," Dick responded with a grin. Then he looked to Victor. "I need you to find some possibilities on a place to set this trap. I'll start working on it when ever I wake up."

"No problem. Now go get some rest before Raven forces you," he said shooting a cheeky look at Raven.

Dick made his way on his own power out of the infirmary with Kori at his side. Vic followed suit almost immediately.

"You okay?" Gar asked.

"What do you mean?" Raven responded.

"I mean the pain."

"I didn't get hurt at all." Raven was starting to wonder if he had been hit on the head.

"I've noticed that you always cringe slightly when healing someone." Gar had that same little smile he usually had.

"Oh, when I heal someone I absorb their pain and expel it. It only hurts for a few seconds at most." She honestly took it for granted, and rarely thought about it even while doing it.

"Oh, that's good to know I was worried about if any of us ever got hurt worse than like Dick did just now."

Raven put her hood up and then started walking to the door. At the door she paused and said, "Thank you, for the concern."

Gar stood there for a few minutes trying to figure out what that response meant. He knew he did not understand her very well, but he had learned some things since he had been a Titan and more since his "chats" with her. He was also willing to spend the time it would take to understand her.

Raven was trying to figure out why Garfield's concern had made her react that way. It was just a simple question. She was too new to letting her emotions (somewhat) free to understand them half the time. Not only that, but she was blushing and when she had felt it start she had nearly panicked, so she had run. As she entered her room she sighed. Feeling her pulse even out already she decided she did not need to meditate and so she read.

When Richard made it to his room he nearly collapsed on the bed. "Thanks Kori I wasn't sure I was going to make it on my own."

"You are most welcome, but I would like to ask you to be more careful in the future please Richard." Kori had a concerned look in her eyes.

"I was being careful," he reassured her. "There was no way I could have dodged him without knowing in advance what he was capable of. I didn't see the wings until after he had me pinned."

"I just worry about you because you always push yourself so hard. I fear for what will happen when you push too far for too long." Dick was stuck by the similarity to what Jason had said about him.

"Look Kori, I know you worry, but I'm more than capable of taking care of myself."

"I know you can take care of yourself," she replied with a little heat. "That does not mean that you do not push yourself too hard. When was the last day you took a break? If I am not mistaken that was when we were in Tokyo," she retorted accusingly.

"I'm sure I must have relaxed some time since then."

"No, you have not. Soon after that you started training harder than ever, and now the only low time you take is the times I can pull you away to spend time with me or our friends," Kori had raised her voice somewhat since they started this.

Dick recalled the time she was talking about. He had been called back to Gotham to help Batman take down a huge crime syndicate trying to move in on his territory. That visit had thrown him through a lot and he had been glaringly showed he still needed to improve.

He leaned back onto the bed. "Okay, I hear what your saying. It was just some stuff that happened when I left around that time. As you know, I went back to Gotham for a while to help Bruce. I wasn't performing at the level I had wanted so I just started going overboard. I'm sorry for worrying you. Once things are settled with this Jason I promise to slow down a bit."

"That is all I wanted, and you are forgiven," she said with her smile that always seemed to brighten a room.

This flashback reminded him of the awkward meeting with Barbara. She had wanted to see about maybe starting over. He had not wanted to hurt her, but after she had found out about him and Kori she had started talking to him less until he only saw her as Batgirl. At this he groaned.

"What is wrong, Richard? Is something still hurting?" Kori came closer to have a look.

"No, nothing like that. You just reminded me of a call I really don't want to make."

"What is this call about that could make one such as yourself despair?" she said with a mischievous glint in her eye.

He gave a chuckle at her jibe. "Did I ever tell you about Batgirl?"

"I know that she works with Batman, and has since before you left," she said with a contemplative look. "What does she have to do with it."

"Well we went out for a while when I was still Bruce's side-kick. Last time I was out in Gotham she had wanted to start up our relationship again. Well, when she ended up finding out about you she got really distant and I only ever saw her in costume afterward. Bruce told me recently I need to call her, and while I agree I'm really not looking toward it," Richard said as a summary.

At this Kori started laughing. Dick just sat there dumbfounded. After a few moments of laughter she said, "You mean to tell me that something so simple as a call to an old friend has you dreading it?"

"Well when you put it that way it sounds so simple," he said glumly. "But its not that simple. She started pushing me away when she found about you. I think I really hurt her."

"She probably was just embarrassed and has not found it in herself to reconnect," Kori reasoned.

"Isn't that a little extreme for embarrassment?" Richard replied skeptically.

She picked up his mask from where he had laid it on his nightstand when he laid down and asked, "Why do you where this besides the obvious identity protection?" She then put it on herself reminding Dick of the time he went to train with the True Master.

"It hides what I'm thinking and feeling from my enemies," he replied not sure why she was asking.

"Exactly, she was trying to hide her embarrassment from you." Then she took the mask off.

"It could just have easily been her hiding her hurt," he countered. He also realized the similarity in how he had hidden himself from his friends.

"If half of what you have told me about your mentor is true then I should think she would have to be tougher than that to handle him," she said with confidence.

"Well either way I do still need to call her," he was still dreading it.

"You just will never admit defeat will you?" she said in mock shock.

"Never. Not even if Superman himself comes here to kill me," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"If he so much as tried he would have to deal with me first," Kori replied in the same tone.

"Well then I wouldn't even have to do anything. I'd just stay back and let you cut loose."

"Well goodnight Richard," Kori said as a way of ending the conversation.

"Goodnight my warrior princess." Kori just had to smile at this.

Dick woke up at 730 still tired. He made his way to the common room after his shower where he discovered everyone working on the trap.

"Morning," he said as a way of of gaining there attentions. Kori greeted him like she did every morning, but he was too surprised to be embarrassed. The others also greeted him in their normal fashions. "So what have you guys got so far?" he asked after getting over his shock.

Raven brought a sheet of paper over to him. "We have narrowed down the locations to this list," she said. He glanced there was seven locations. "Right now we are working on ideas of how to lure him."

"Yeah and right now it looks like Gar has the best idea," Victor said in all seriousness.

"Lets hear it," Richard responded.

"Well I figure the way he finds most of his targets is like how we patrol. Its similar to how predator animals hunt. They look until they find traces of prey and follow them like that. Well we could put word out on the street about a supposed meeting by some heavy hitters, like say the mafia. Then all we have to do is lay the tracks lightly enough that he still has to find out where and therefore be less likely to figure out its a trap," he seemed as if he had put a lot of thought into it.

"Its a good idea. We'll see if we can't hammer out the details today and then start laying out the foot work tomorrow," Dick said in response not pointing out that it was nearly the same as what he had been thinking.

Later that day Dick had ended up taking a nap still feeling worn out from being healed. When he woke up and looked in the mirror he decided that he really should call Babs. He had put it off long enough.

He made the call and she answered. "Hey, Dick. Its been a while."

He decided to cut the bull for sake of hopefully making this less awkward. "Babs I think we need to talk."

"I thought that's what we were doing," she said feigning ignorance.

"You know what I mean. Its been too long since we talked at all," Dick started and took a breath before continuing. "I'm sorry about before. I didn't mean to hide her from you, and I'm sorry I hurt you."

A this she looked surprised. "Hurt me? Dick before that we had hardly even seen each other in forever. Yeah, I felt bad that you had never told me, but that wasn't really too big a deal."

"Then why did you start pushing me away? Did I do something else?" Dick was confused.

"Well," she paused and looked away for a second. "I was so embarrassed after making an ass of myself I just kinda started pulling away."

At this Dick said, "Crap. She was right."

"Who?" Barbara questioned.

"Starfire," Dick replied. "I told her about this and she said that was probably the case. She even laughed at me for having put off calling you so long."

"She wasn't mad at me?" Babs looked a bit surprised.

"No, she understood that you didn't know we were together. Just please don't tell her you were right, she'll just rub it in," Dick pleaded.

"Oh, hell no. The moment I meet her I am going to tell her. I mean, who woulda thought? Dick Grayson is wrong," she started giggling as he gave her a look of betrayal.

He lay there and talked to her for a while him telling her about life at the tower, and her giving him stories to tease Bruce with next they talked. Then there was a knock at Dick's door. He answered it to find Kori at the door.

"Is there someone in here with you?" Kori looked curiously around the room.

"No, just making that call like we talked about yesterday." He showed her his communicator.

At this Babs immediately said, "You were right Starfire!"

"Dammit forgot about that," Dick said. "You were supposed to keep quiet about that."

"I made no such promise," she retorted. "Anyway, it was nice meeting you Starfire. See ya Dick."

Kori blinked at this and then said, "I believe the English idiom is I told you so."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in. Anything new going down with the plan?" he asked as they started walking down the hall.

Jason had found about this meeting that the mafia had supposedly set up the day before. After a great amount of tracking and interrogations he discovered that no one important in the city knew anything about it before a couple days ago.

He supposed it was probably someone from the last city he had worked in. The gangs there had not been very sophisticated, but he had pissed off some very rich and powerful men there. So it was most likely one or more of them had come for him.

He did not learn the folly of his actions until after the warehouse had sealed as he knew it would. He looked around at not a group of thugs as he expected, but the Teen Titans. "Fuck. I didn't think it'd be you guys. Shoulda thought over the whole trap thing more carefully."

"So anything to say for yourself before we take you down, Jason?" Robin questioned.

"Well I guess I'll start with a story. Good friend of mine, okay I guess that's a bit of a stretch of the truth. Well, an acquaintance comes to me and he tells me for a nominal fee he can hack into the Titans Database. I figured he'd just get himself caught and considering he knows almost nothing about me I ponied up the cash." He said this with an air of drama. "Of course he did get caught. Funny thing though he was actually able to make some copies into a server that apparently even the Titans couldn't trace." Still no openings, and Robin knew this guy was just blowing smoke anyway. "Mostly useless info to me, stuff on Slade and some other regulars in town. Though there was one interesting bit of info. It was surprising to learn that about you. I guess super-heroes come from all stocks wouldn't you say Dick?"

Robins eyes narrowed at this. Starfire jerked as if she had been slapped and the others just looked on in surprise. This guy knew his name, and therefore he likely knew Batman's as well. "If you truly know so much about me why let me know?"

At this he threw a flash drive to Robin. "This acquaintance of mine also left his hacking tools behind. Figured you'd want it to help shear up security."

"That didn't exactly answer my question." Robin was still shocked that he knew.

"The hacker you guys caught a couple weeks ago was the one. He wasn't able to look at it before you caught him trust me if he had he'd have squealed it as soon as you left the room. Besides I took his files as soon as he was done. I wasn't about to trust him with anything from you guys."

"Why would you pay to have the files hacked just to go and protect our secrets?" Robin couldn't get a handle on this guy. He just made no sense.

"I am just too curious for my own good I suppose." Robin decided to settle for this answer.

"So, there is no way you can escape this time. How about you come quietly for once?" Robin said warily.

"Oh, come on you should already know I wont give up so easily. Your gonna have to take me down."

And in an instant he ran straight at Beastboy believing he would have the slowest reaction time, and threw a punch. Beastboy morphed to a bug and then after the punch was thrown into a gorilla and retaliated with his own punch which Jason dodged by jumping over him. Mid jump he was blind sided by Starfire's even stronger punch and was thrown through the air. Jason landed gracelessly. He recovered just quickly enough to dodge a blast from Cyborg. As he was dodging that he had heavy machinery thrown in his direction from raven and multiple projectiles from Robin. He caught one of Robin's birdarangs and threw it at Raven who lost grip of the machinery in her haste to defend herself. He then was rushed by Beastboy in wolf form who did something he never expected from the changeling. Beastboy shifted back to his own body as he closed in and threw a fist aimed directly at a weak spot, but then again shifted at the last second into a Gorilla adding an incredible amount of power to the quick punch. Again he was lunched and was nearly caught off guard by Starfire again. He was ready for this so he shot his wings out at her and sent her flying in the other direction and sent himself in Ravens direction retracting his wings to slip in between launched machinery she had prepared and as she set up a shield he flipped around and used it to rebound at Cyborg. As he dodged Cyborg's punch though he was hit by a taser birdarang thrown by Robin.

He collapsed to his knee and looked up at Robin breathing heavily. "Man, you guys are just too good." He then passed out on the floor.

Robin knelt next to him and handcuffed him Raven then wrapped his torso in her powers so he could not use his wings on them. Robin then said, "We'll need to keep him at the tower since he seems to actually know who I am. He likely also knows about others as well."

They all nodded then Starfire carried Jason's unconscious body as Raven followed and the guys went for the T-car.

Jason woke up in an empty room apparently made of metal and had a one-way mirror on one wall. His mask and swords were gone. He knew he would not be able to break out so he sat with his back against the opposite wall and waited eyes closed. As he waited he thought about Samantha and what she would think when he didn't show up on Wednesday. He had not missed one since he started the tradition. Ultimately he went back to when she had saved him. She had knocked him behind cover when she realized it was a bomb they had found. He had been eleven and she was ten. She still reacted faster than him. Unfortunately it had been meant as a giant flash-bang apparently and she had been looking directly at it when it blew. It had nearly blown there eardrums out. It had caused her to lose her sight permanently. He still felt guilt over it, but she had made it clear on multiple occasions that if he didn't stop blaming himself she would kick his ass. It had been her decision and she would do it again given the chance. He continued on multiple trains of thought until Robin stepped in through a door that had not been noticeable before.

"Tell me everything you know." It was most definitely not a request.

"Every name in the database. I have a very good memory. It only took me a few times to get it all memorized," Jason responded without a hint of embellishment or humor.

"You claim you fight for justice, why would you let someone hack into our database." He showed not a hint of emotion.

"Curiosity."

"Don't feed me that line again, I know you didn't do it for nothing."

"It got me here instead of prison didn't it?" Jason smiled.

"Why would you rather be here? You know its harder to escape from here than any prison."

"Maybe it's cause I like you Dick, or maybe I'm just not as smart as you think. So how is it working under the great Bruce Wayne himself? I figure he must be hard to work with. He must be trying to make something up to his parents. He needs to learn to let go much more than you do."

Robin left without answering or any further questioning.

Dick got to the viewing room and said to Raven, "He wasn't even stretching the truth, was he?"

"He was completely honest until your last question," she replied with a hint of concern in her voice.

"So what do we do?" Gar asked.

"I really don't know. He knows the name of every Titan across the globe. Many of them wont care, but many of them have people to protect like Victor and I," Robin replied. "For now we will keep a constant watch." He looked at Jason who was now doing exercises in the confines of the cell.

Jason had been in the cell for two days. They were not neglecting him, he had been fed nutritious meals. Sometimes he was grilled by Robin more, sometimes someone came and tried to have a conversation with him. It was obvious they were trying to get more out of him with that. Once he had even been granted a game of chess with Raven. It had gone on for a while, but he had been pretty ineffectual and lost pretty easily. He never was very good at planning.

He heard an alarm go off through the whole tower and after a few minutes called to his room, "Anything big?"

"Nothin you need to concern yourself with," Cyborg's voice came through the speaker.

When Dick arrived at the common room the others had already assembled. "No known perpetrator. Centered at Fourth and Tandem. Raven, get us their fast." As they arrived on the outskirts of the scene he said, " We need immediate evac of any and all civilian presence. I'm going to track down whoever is behind this as fast as possible. You three just look around for noncombatants, Beastboy I want you on foot," he said this all in a quick manner.

Star gave him a meaningful look. "And I promise not to take him on without notifying you guys first," he said trying to reassure his friends as he left.

On arrival at the top of one of the buildings Raven collapsed. Starfire reacted instantly. "Raven!" she cried. Starfire held her gently. She then checked Raven's pulse. It was going wild.

"Raven," Starfire called gently but firmly, "What's wrong."

She was barely conscious, but was able to grind out, "So... much... fear. Overwhelming."

"Okay, rest now Raven. I need to get you back to the tower with Cyborg."

She made a call to Robin explaining the situation as she took off. Also mentioning what Raven said.

After that Robin made a call of his own.

"This is the fastest kid alive," came the jovial response.

"Wally," Dick said staring out at the destruction, "I need your help."

Kid Flash was instantly serious. Robin only asked for help when any sane person would have given up ten steps ago, "Whats the case boss?"

"Bring Jinx down to Jump with you," he said in a distracted tone, trying to think of what could have caused this level of fear, "Area around Fourth and Tandem, unknown perp, need immediate evac of civilians, Take Jinx to BB, Star took Raven to recover from some problem linked with her empathic abilities."

"Be there in a flash boss," Kid Flash said with a quick smile.

With that done Robin began his search.

Beastboy had just arrived on the edge of the designated area. It was a war-zone. Shrieks of terror filled the air. The streets looked like they had been fire-bombed. People were attacking one another with nothing at all making even the remotest sense. Oddly enough only a small portion of the people in the area were rioting. It seemed to be the only reason this hadn't spread further was due to relative isolation of the area. On one side was the city park deserted after nightfall and another side bordering the east river. Add that to the deserted warehouses on a third side there was only one way for the riot to spread.

It was at this time that Kid Flash sped up with Jinx in his arms. Setting her down he exclaimed, "Man I've been looking for you for like the last five seconds!"

"What are you doing here?" Beastboy asked after the initial moment of shock.

"Rob called us in, said Stars taking Raven to the tower to recover," Flash responded, "I'm leaving Jinxy with you to help you and Imma go off to clear this place out alone since yer all slowpokes."

"What's wrong with Raven?" Beast Boy interjected before he could dash off.

"Don't know specifics, he said it had to do with her empathic abilities, Cya." He was off before they could respond.

"Okay, so we need to look for people and anything suspicious, got it Jinx?" Beastboy said to the slightly sick looking girl. He needed to focus on the mission at hand and just trust that Raven would be alright.

"Yeah I got it, I'll just follow your lead," She said with a queasy smile.

"So Flash a bit too fast for ya?" BB inquired.

"Only when he's in a hurry," she replied as they made their way into the fray.

"Well you know what they say about speedsters?" he said with a wicked grin. Glancing around to make sure no one was being attacked.

Jinx kicked in a door and they began searching an apartment complex for anyone sane enough to save quickly.

"Well I can imagine you have a lot of ideas, but I hardly think this is the time," she replied as if this was a perfectly normal activity.

"Ah fine," BB said in mock dismay. Then all of a sudden his ears twitched and he made a motion to Jinx and moved to a door and barreled it down.

This surprised Jinx. For the first time she had noticed that he had grown in more than height he also had put on some muscle. He still was a bit on the skinny side, but he looked like he could actually do something with his own muscles.

Cheri had been hiding where she always did when she was scared. She was in the hall closet. The monsters had started hurting people in the streets. She could hear the screams and yells. She could feel the tears streaming down her face, and couldn't stop them coming. Soon after they started in the streets she heard them in the walls and ceilings. Then she had seen them lurking in the shadows waiting for her to turn her back on them.

She had run to the closet as soon as she could overcome the fear that moving would cause them to strike. She had sat there crying since.

Then she heard a loud crash out in the living room. She immediately went silent. She saw two of them coming into the front room through the slits in the closet door. One green one and one pale one.

"I don't see anyone Beastboy, you sure someones here," the pale one said.

The green one did not respond he just took a deep breath and walked around the room taking a few more. Then he looked directly at the closet.

Cheri couldn't help it. She let out a squeak. Then the green one was in the door with a menacing look reaching for her.

Beast Boy put the best smile he could muster on his face and held his hand out to the girl. "It's okay, I'm here to help." When his hand got closer she latched on and bit him. Hard. It took every ounce of self control BB had not to accidentally hurt her. He just scooped her up and after removing her mouth from his hand said, "It's okay, I wanna help." She still looked absolutely terrified, but made no further struggles and kept quiet. "Don't worry, no one is going to hurt you."

As they made their way out Jinx pulled out her comm. "Hey, Flash we got a kid here for extraction," he was there the moment she finished.

"Careful, she bites," Beast Boy said showing his hand with a grin as he handed her to Kid Flash.

"So does she," Flash replied pointing at Jinx with a grin plastered on his face then speeding off.

Beast Boy arched an eyebrow at Jinx. She gave him an evil looking grin. He decided to let it go.

"Hey Jinx, somethings been bugging me about this whole thing," Beast Boy said with a frown.

As she replied he shifted to a wolf for a moment to sniff at the air. "What is it?"

After shifting back he said, "Two things, first there is something in the air. Something I've never smelled before. The other is the fear."

"Well it is a riot Sherlock. There's bound to be fear floating around," Jinx said sarcastically.

"That's the thing, for such a small riot there is too much fear smell. It's like every single person in the area is absolutely nothing but fear."

"That could explain why the girl was so scared of you. I'll tell Robin about this, see if you can find the source of this foreign smell." Jinx felt as though she should know what was going on here.

Robin hadn't been making much headway. He couldn't figure out what had been causing this or where it originated. The streets were a no go due to the damage done by the rioters. There was no pattern to the destruction. It was like those that were doing it had gone insane.

It was at this point that his comm went off. "Robin... is this important? I'm kinda busy right now Jinx."

"Yeah, I think so. BB told me that he's been smelling something off ever since we stepped foot here. He says there's too much fear."

"Raven said something along those lines. What did he mean by too much?"

"He said it's almost as if these people feel nothing but fear. That the scent is much more prevalent than any riot this size should have. He said something else, that there was something in the air he didn't recognize. Hes trying to track the source down now."

"Thanks for the update, keep me posted." He stood looking out on the people in the streets. It just didn't make sense. Riots grew they didn't shrink on their own. This one however had done just that. As a matter of fact this couldn't even really be called a riot anymore so few were out. Kid Flash hadn't had enough time to make this much of a difference.

He wasn't sure what made him do what he did next. A gut feeling maybe. He jumped down a fire escape to get to street level. He didn't think he would recognize a smell that BB didn't. He took a deep breath and was assaulted by many smells. Mostly smoke from the fires that had been burning since before they got there. There was something else though. It was faint and he almost didn't catch it. It was a very distinct smell he hadn't smelled in a long time.

It all made sense to him now. Raven's collapse, BB noticing something off with the situation, the reason so few were out, and why he hadn't found anyone causing this chaos. It was time he searched the warehouses. He pulled out his grappling hook and took off in their direction.

Raven had been meditating in the room with Cyborg since Star brought her back. He had been able to do nothing the whole time, and had been very worried due to Raven not having spoken since what she said to Robin. It was at times like this that he felt useless just standing there watching Raven fight her own battle.

"Raven, please say something. Are you okay?" Cyborg said desperately. He did not expect an answer any more than he had last time. Or the time before that. Or the dozen times before then.

Raven's eyes snapped open."I'm sorry Cyborg. I had to sort through all those emotions. I accidentally absorbed some of the fear when I felt how powerful it was. I need to go back and help those people. Something foreign was there and I believe it was causing all this fear," she said tonelessly. He had been startled at first but when Raven's words went on he was very intent.

As she was about to leave again Jason spoke up, "Come on I know something big is going down out there. You been silent for too long. There has to be some way you guys can trust me to help you."

Raven looked at Cyborg and said, "It's your call."

A few minutes of waiting later Cyborg stepped into the cell. "If you wanna help, I'm gonna have to put this collar on you. If you try to break it, it will shock you. If you so much as sneeze in the general direction of one of us, it will shock you. If I feel board and decide to shock you, it will shock you. So what's your choice?"

Jinx had followed Beast Boy all the way to the warehouse district where he had abruptly changed back to human form and stared intently for a few moments at one of them a few hundred feet away.

"This it, Beastboy?" she questioned.

"Yeah seems so. The smell is still faint, but I'm pretty sure this is it."

Beastboy pulled out his comm at the same time as Robin landed next to him, and Starfire followed suit. She had homed in on Robin. Raven and Cyborg and Jason materialized a few feet away.

At first Beastboy was stunned, but then he saw the collar on Jason's neck he grew pale knowing what it did. "So... I guess you figured it out?" he said.

Robin nodded. "Raven, are you sure you're okay for this?"

"All I needed was to meditate," she said in a low voice.

"You try anything funny on us Jason and I will have you locked up permanently."

"Sounds good to me," he said with a smile.

The Boy-Wonder pulled his comm out as BB went over to Raven to talk quietly. "Flash. I need you here now."

He was there an instant later. "What is it Boss?"

Robin looked out at the warehouses. "Scarecrow."

A/N Okay, I though that one was pretty easy to guess anyway. Although I was wondering how many of you thought it was Slade from the title. That would have been too easy. Well it is just one more for this story. Please review.


	4. What's In a Name?

A/N Don't know why I didn't have this as action before. Oh well. Also if anyone can tell me how to prevent it from trying to make my story into one big paragraph that would be awesome. On with the story.

Robin looked at those who were with him. His team he knew like they were part of himself. Kid Flash and Jinx nearly as well. Jason he still did not trust, but he understood why Cyborg let him come and knew that Jason would not escape that collar.

"Scarecrow is very dangerous, avoid getting hit by his gas at all costs. If he still had more for however he did this he would likely still be pouring it out. So we shouldn't have to worry about that. Be ready for anything though he is very crafty and impossible to predict," Robin said as he lead the way to the warehouses. "Starfire and Jinx, you go with Cyborg and Jason. The rest are with me. Start searching this place."

"So what's the deal with this Guy?" Jinx asked curiously.

"This guy, is a vigilante and you can call him Jason," Jason responded, then switching to first person, "I killed some people so Robin made it his mission to hunt me down. I walked into their trap believing it to belong to someone else."

They were walking along the warehouses now. "So wait you willingly walked into a trap?"

"I believed it to be some people from the last city I was in. It wouldn't have been hard for me to take them down," he replied dryly.

"Okay I suppose that answers most of my question. Why would they trust you out here though?" she continued.

He pointed at the collar. "Gift from from Cyborg. Shock collar."

"I didn't know you were into the kinky stuff Cyborg," she said immediately and Jason started laughing.

"He gave us a pretty good fight. Don't want a repeat."

"You know, I seriously doubt a second fight with you guys would go nearly sowell for me," Jason stated without a hint of flattery.

"The first time I fought you guys I knew virtually all of your capabilities and you knew almost none of a matter of fact all you knew was that I could fly," Jason continued as they searched individual warehouses looking for something to clue them in on Scarecrow's presence. "Besides I promised to help and that's what I intend to do even if you don't trust me."

"This is not the best of times to be having this discussion," Starfire interjected.

"Star has a point we need to focus on the job at hand." At this Jason just shrugged.

"Ah, but we were having so much fun," Jinx said in mock hurt.

Robin was leading his team and searching for anything that would hint at facilities for Scarecrow to make his fear toxin.

"So what's the deal with that Jason guy?" Kid flash spoke up after a few minutes.

"He's a vigilante and he has killed at least two people since he came to Jump City," Robin responded without sign of emotion.

"Okay, so why are you guys trusting him?" he questioned further.

"We aren't," Beastboy started. "That collar around his neck was designed to keep him in line, with enough electrical force to put down a T-Rex if necessary," he finished with apparent discomfort.

Kid Flash didn't know Beastboy that well so he decided to let it go considering the situation."Okay then, so you want me to zip around and look for anything, boss?" he directed at Robin.

At this Robin paused for a second. "Yeah, but do not engage and try to stay as far away as possible. Report back immediately."

It took him less than a minute. "Robin we're in for more than you thought," Flash started with unease. "He's got Bane with him."

Robin brought his communicator and called Cyborg. "Follow my signal, Kid Flash has found the place."

Cyborg's group caught up just as they arrived within sight of the location Kid Flash had found. "Flash says that Bane is also with Scarecrow," Robin informed Cyborg's group.

"This means we are going to have to be extra careful. Bane isn't just incredibly powerful, he also has a genius intelligence."

"Really?" Jinx blurted out.

"Yeah, he actually figured out Batman's identity on his own, pretty much the only person to do so. Whatever they have done exactly Bane probably helped create it." Most of them looked surprised at this. He continued, "We are going to need some sort of plan. Preferably we should take down Scarecrow immediately so he can't use his fear gas. I built up some resistance to it while in Gotham, but I have no idea how strong it will affect the rest of you since none of you are normal physically, or in Starfire's case not human. Kid Flash and I will focus on Scarecrow until his threat is neutralized. The rest of you do not give Bane a chance to breath and don't let him hit you, he is stronger than anyone here."

With that said they went for the warehouse as stealthily as possible. They got in through various windows and saw that the room seemed devoid of any occupation. It was a perfectly average warehouse, metal walls and concrete floor.

"You sure you didn't forget where to go Flash?" Jinx said accusingly.

"No this is it, I'm sure of it," he claimed.

"Something isn't right you saw them in here, but there isn't any machinery for them to have made gas to cover this section of the city." Jason stated pulling from what Cyborg had informed him of the situation.

Robin knelt down noticing a small slightly darkened spot on the concrete. He rubbed his hand across it then smelled it. "They were here," he declared. "This mark is left overs from the fear toxin."

As he said this a voice came from all around them, presumably through speakers. "I seem to have caught more than originally intended," Scarecrow said in quiet voice, then much louder, "Well, well Robin, it has been such a long time since we saw each other has it not?"

"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish?" Robin was looking for any possible threat.

"Isn't it enough that I wanted to see you?" Scarecrow replied. Robin's only answer was silence. "Fine then be that way. I am striking a blow at Batman by taking you out. And don't bother trying to escape if you do I will not hesitate to release enough gas to drive this whole city insane."

As he finished gas started pouring into the room and the floor in the center opened up and a platform raised up Bane who seemed to have a gas filter attached to his mask. Regardless of whether or not Scarecrow could follow through with his threat they weren't leaving.

"I didn't know you were willing to lower yourself to work with Scarecrow Bane," Robin said with a smirk.

"I will do whatever it takes to hurt Batman," he replied simply his voice being distorted by the filter.

Robin looked around at his team. Jinx, Kid Flash and Jason all looked like they were taking the full hit of the gas. Raven was blocking it with her powers and the other three seemed roughly normal. As for him he still saw the hallucinations, but he had been trained by Batman how to deal with the effects so he was mostly at his best still.

"You seemed to have underestimated these youth, Scarecrow," Bane said in a casual manner.

"I don't understand how this is possible!" Scarecrow nearly screamed. "There should be enough toxin in all of them to drive any person insane. What is it that makes you and Batman able to resist it!" he was screaming now. "And how is it these others are not affected?" Robin did not answer and the Titans encircled Bane.

Robin reasoned out that it was because of their bodies. Starfire was not human, strictly speaking Beastboy wasn't entirely human himself also Beastboy had to deal with fear while in certain animal forms all the time, and Cyborg was kept alive by a very complex life support system that likely filtered out most of the toxin.

They made their move. Raven lashed out with her powers attacking him directly. Cyborg shot a blast from his sonic cannon. Starfire let out some star bolts then swooped in from above. Beastboy rushed him in the form of a rhino and Robin jumped at his head with his staff. The ranged attacks did not seem to hurt him much. Bane caught Beastboy by the horn without too much apparent strain, and threw him at Cyborg who caught Beastboy as he shifted back to his own body. Robin got a direct hit to Bane's head which sent him off balance some holding a hand to his head. Starfire landed a solid kick to his back launching him across the room. He stood up seemingly without injury.

"Go for the head its about the only way you can hurt him." As he said this more gas poured through the vents causing their effectiveness to drop somewhat. They kept fighting hard but with every passing second they were losing the battle against the gas even Raven who lost her shield at points, no doubt due to the combined stress of the fight and the massive amounts of fear coming from those around her.

Jason was just barely conscious enough to notice this. He rose to his hands and knees thinking. _Come on need to focus. Have to figure a way out of this._ He even was starting to hurt all over as a side effect of the mental stress he was going through. He thought of the fact that the toxin was in gas form. Jason stood up and brought out his wings. He began flapping against all the pain he was feeling. He knew if he could just move enough air he could blow the gas away from the Titans. But it hurt so much he wasn't sure if he could hold out long enough. _So what? Your just gonna give up cause of a little pain? _Jason though to himself. _Screw that!_ He kept waving his wings.

"Look at the crazy bird," Scarecrow cackled.

Robin turned to look at Jason through the haze set upon him by the increasing concentration of gas. He could not think clearly enough to figure out what the man was trying to accomplish, but he could see a look of intense determination on the mans face as he flapped away without taking off. Kid flash noticed that the apparitions that assailed him were starting to lose clarity, and after a few moments reality hit him. He looked around the warehouse slightly confused. The hallucinations were gone and what he saw was Jason flapping while still standing on the ground, Jinx unconscious on the ground next to him and then the rest of the Titans here struggling to retain their footing. He stood up.

Robin noticed Flash standing up and shouted, "Take the tubes out of his suit, its the only way to stop him!"

Kid Flash did as he was told. He had Bane incapacitated in a manner of less than a second. He then ran around looking for Scarecrow until he found him trying to run out a back door. "Hey there you wouldn't to know where I can find Scarecrow would you?" Kid Flash said from right behind him. Scarecrow jumped and spun around to attack. Flash had him on the ground and tied up before Scarecrow could blink.

Kid Flash ran back to the others carrying Scarecrow. He dropped the villain unceremoniously and went over to Jinx and held her. "Hey Jinxy are you okay?" he questioned as she started to regain consciousness.

"I think I'll live," she said. "But that was the worst drug trip I have ever been on."

Flash laughed. He then looked around to see the other Titans on their feet again, if somewhat shaky.

Robin had finally cleared up enough to think, and he realized that Jason had been blowing the fear gas away. He looked at Kid Flash, and thought it must have been his hyperactive metabolism that allowed hims to recover so fast from the toxin. Everyone else was still affected pretty strongly from its affect. Robin walked over to where Jason was splayed out on the ground with his wings spread wide. He knelt down feeling for a pulse and found a very weak one. "Raven can you get us home?"

Her only reply was a shaky nod. She then wrapped every one in her powers and they were home.

Jason woke up disoriented. He looked around and realized he was in what appeared to be a hospital room. His mask and swords were on the table next to him. He tried to sit up but felt an intense pain. As he lay back down he recalled what had transpired at the warehouse. He could guess they had won seeing as how he was still alive, but he did not know if everyone else was okay.

As he was thinking about all this Cyborg walked in. "So your awake," he said with a small smile.

"Yeah, but I feel like I've been hit by a truck," Jason said.

"I bet, you had a unique reaction to the toxin, it attacked your body as well as your mind," Cyborg replied.

"Wow, but I was serious about the truck part I was hit by one last year, not fun," Jason replied with a smile.

"Did everyone make it out okay?"

"Every one is fine, Bane and Scarecrow are back in Arkam we were all recovered after the first day."

"Wait, first day? How long was I out?" Jason had a concerned look on his face. "Three days. Why? Miss something important on Wednesday?" Cyborg questioned.

"You guys know about that?" Jason looked somewhat surprised.

"All we know is you don't seem to work Wednesdays," Cy replied.

"Oh, well yeah I did miss something important." Cyborg decided not to pursue it.

"I'm going to tell the others your awake." He then left and Robin came in shortly after.

"Why did you decide to help us?" He started without preamble.

"To defend the city," Jason replied in perfect honesty.

Robin studied him for a minute. "I still don't entirely trust you, but I'm willing to let you go on one condition. I want your honest word that you word that you will avoid killing if at all possible. This means I am trusting you to make a call on if it is possible," he studied Jason's face intently. Robin had come to the conclusion that he couldn't force every one to work the way he did.

Jason replied almost instantly. "Deal, besides it is your town and I guess it is only polite to play by your rules."

Robin could see the honesty beneathe the joking. "Okay, I would also like you to have this." He held out a T-comp. "That way if I ever need your help you will be easy to get a hold of."

Jason studied the device for a few moments. "Sure," he replied. "Does this mean I am officially sanctioned to kick ass?"

"You can stay in the shadows if you want, or you can join us," Robin responded.

"I don't think I really want to be a super-hero, at least not yet," Jason said laying back down.

"I think you qualify for the title already," Robin noted.

"I don't think so, in my mind being a super-hero isn't about saving people or how you do it. Its about how you are seen, or in my case the lack of being seen," Jason claimed.

"Okay, whatever you want, we won't pressure you. Raven will be in in a moment," he said walking out the door.

Jason was surprised. Why would Raven be seeing him?

She stepped in and sat down next to the bed. "I am going to heal you. Before you ask, I did not heal you before because your body wouldn't have held out. I needed to wait for you to become stable."

"Oh, cool thanks. I'm guessing there are limits to this which affect you not letting this ability become public knowledge," he remarked curiously.

As she started working on it she spoke, "I cannot cure any disease of any kind. I can only heal damage done by physical or magical forces, and as I already told you I cannot heal someone who is too weak. Also you will be tired for a day or so afterward." She finished as she explained.

"Well, thank you for the help, I am going to need to leave shortly."

"You are perfectly welcome to stay as long as you like," Raven stated.

"Yeah, Robin told me, but I got stuff I need to do." He got up and stretched his somewhat stiff muscles. Then followed Raven as she walked out.

"Hey man, good to see you," Kid Flash said merrily. "Jinxy sends her thanks. She's back home holding up the city, I came back for a bit since you were likely to wake up."

Beastboy gave him a big smile from where he was leaning against a wall.

Starfire flew over and gave him a crushing hug. "Friend! I am most overjoyed that you are well!" she said happily.

"Friend?" Jason parroted.

"Of course," Beastboy replied with a grin.

The honesty in their faces touched him. He gave a smile then said, "Well I guess since we are friends and I know all your names I should tell you. My name is actually Jason. Jason Cruz."

They all stared at him then Kid Flash broke the silence, "Wait you know our names?"

"Hacker asked me if I wanted him to hack Titans tower, for money of course, I figured it could help me evade these guys longer so I paid, he broke into the Titans computer and I took the files before he could see them and he got caught," Jason said truthfully.

Flash stared for a moment then said, "Okay then, well I'd love to stay and chat, but if I do much longer Jinx will strangle me." And like that he was gone.

"So why did you use your real name, isn't that a bit risky?" Beastboy asked.

"Well I figured if Slade had been able to do it for so long why not me?" Jason stated with a grin.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Robin gave him an intense look.

"Wait, you never found out?" Jason looked around at them all then sighed. "His name is Slade Wilson. He was a mercenary. Let me rephrase that. He was the best mercenary in the world. Went by Deathstroke the Terminator, no one could touch his results. The thing is I don't know why he would target you guys. He used to only take jobs that he agreed with morally and that never would have included fighting you. Hell I'm not even sure you guys were a job." At this everyone was silent for a moment. Robin got up and left.

"Shit, I thought you guys knew by now. I mean you did take him down," Jason said worriedly.

"Do not worry yourself over it," Starfire replied with a sad smile. "It is nothing you could control."

"Well now that I have manged to kill the mood I will excuse myself. See ya guys some other time." He left without another word

"Do you think he will ever join the team?" Beastboy asked no one in particular.

"Maybe one day, but somethings holding him back right now," Raven said.

When Jason made it outside he pulled out his cell and made a call. "Jason! Is that you?" Samantha answered sounding worried.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I worried you. I was sick in the hospital. It was a really bad fever I only woke recently and they had no clue who to call. Don't worry I'm better, and I will be there today to see you."

"Oh god, I'm just glad your all right," she sounded relieved. "Don't ever do that to me again!"

"I promise, see you in a while." He then hung up, extended his wings and took off into the sky. Dick had been thinking. Of course he was incredibly angry at himself over the whole Slade thing, but what he was thinking now was about something Jason had said. "Being a super-hero isn't about saving people or how you do it. Its about how you are seen." How did people see super-heroes? So he thought about that and now he thought he had his answer.

A super-hero is not a person. A super-hero is a symbol. A symbol of power. A symbol of unbreakable will. A symbol of justice. Perhaps most importantly a symbol of hope. Hope of a better future. An age in which the strong will not prey on the weak. One that will not see men and women killing one another.

He went to his closet and pulled out a box. He opened the box to see something he had wanted to wear since the day Kori had told him about it.

Dick stepped into the common room wearing his new suit. When the others were all looking at him he said with a smile, "I think its time we go out on patrol. Make sure the bad guys know who owns this town."

A/N Well that is it for this one hope you enjoyed it. Next story should actually start soon. Please Review.


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